


Forget-me-knot

by NightBat



Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Humor, Out of Character, Post-Canon, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Slice of Life, Translation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:09:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27641201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightBat/pseuds/NightBat
Summary: What can come out of a red ribbon in the Courier’s pocket and Joshua Graham who let his guard down?
Relationships: Courier & Follows Chalk, Courier/Joshua Graham, Female Courier & Follows Chalk, Female Courier/Joshua Graham
Comments: 5
Kudos: 24





	Forget-me-knot

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Забантованный](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27617855) by [NightBat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightBat/pseuds/NightBat). 



> soft nation rise up

Joshua quickly turns around at the sound of footsteps behind him, snapping out of his half-sleep.

“Good morning. Do you always get up so early or just today?” the Courier cheerfully greets him, coming closer.

“Morning?..”

Joshua looks up at the sky, burning with dawn, and sighs when he realizes how much time has passed.

“I worked late.” He’s trying to remember past night’s events, but his thoughts are still a little hazy from sleep. “Then I came here to do something... maybe just to think...”

It seems to Joshua that the Courier is looking at him a bit more intently that usual, so he stares back at her. Noticing her tired look, he asks:

“And what about you?”

“I just wasn’t able to fall asleep... again. Came to the watchmen, turns out Follows-Chalk volunteered to be on guard, we played some card games...”

“So that’s what you are teaching him?” Joshua says reproachfully.

“The cards are just a tool, same as a gun or a computer. Without cards Vegas would find many other ways to squeeze the last caps out of people.” She chuckles. “Did you really think I would bet money while playing with any of you?”

“Fine.”

Joshua lifts his hand to scratch his nose and slowly realizes that there are no bandages on his face.

Instantly the pain hits him, and he winces involuntary, touching the pockets of his vest in search of clean bandages. Now he remembers that he came here, on a cliff hidden from the sight of passersby, to apply the burn treatment that the Courier gave him... and, apparently, fell asleep in the process. Joshua scolded himself for being so careless.

“I have some.” The Courier is already holding out a roll of bandages.

“Thanks.”

He reaches for the bandages, but when Joshua and the Courier’s hands touch, she doesn’t let go.

“May I do this?”

Trying not to show the pain in any way, Joshua just nods quickly, watching as the Courier pulls a bottle of antiseptic from her backpack.

***

The Courier is hardly a doctor, and compared to Joshua she bandages way slower, even though she have already done this before, even though he personally taught her once. But, unlike him, the Courier sees where the gauze falls, she doesn’t leave patches of bare skin and doesn’t use more bandages than necessary. She touches him as gently as possible – much more gently than he himself does, Joshua thinks. The touch of soft, slightly cold hands feels nice, despite the pain that never leaves him completely.

After some time Joshua gets tired of watching the Courier’s hands move around and trustfully closes his eyes. There are less and less patches of skin that feel the fresh air, and the pain gradually goes from “irritating” to “almost unnoticeable” — by his standards, of course. In the end Courier fiddles for a little longer than usual, but he ignores it.

“Done.” Joshua opens his eyes. The Courier looks at him, for some reason smiling wider than the minute ago. “I see, this thing that I brought works? Is the progress still going?”

“I still feel pain, but... yes. If you ever visit Big Mountain again, please give the scientists my immense respects,” Joshua says sincerely.

“Actually they wanted a pretty big piece of your skin as a thank you, — mad scientists, y’know, want to figure out what’s so special about you, — but I convinced them to only take your DNA. Although, if you want, you can go on and send your skin as a sign of respect.” The Courier shrugs.

“I will think about it.”

“Ah, by the way,” she remembers. “Daniel wanted to see you.”

***

When Daniel and Joshua finished their conversation, the day was already in full swing. Not far from them Follows-Chalk and the Courier, who have been peacefully talking about something before, now took turns unsuccessfully trying to perform a suplex on each other, causing the Sorrows that gathered around them to laugh and wonder. Although they were already better at it, it didn’t seem like they could use this in the battle. Joshua hoped that they would never have to.

He wanted to come to them and offer his help, but Daniel stopped him.

“Tell me, are the changes in your style related to something?”

“Style?”

“You have... a bow-knot on your head.” Daniel removes his hat with one quick movement, showing a place to the right and above his right eyebrow. “Here.”

Out the corner of his eye Joshua notices that the Courier and Follows-Chalk stopped fighting. He feels their eyes on him, gone as soon as he turns to them, and lets out a sigh.

“Nevermind.”

***

Fortunately for Joshua, the cave he chose was empty. Feeling the object on his head, for the first time in a very long time he wishes that he had a mirror. He still remembers the shards of the past one cutting into his palm, splattering the bandages with blood... but now, unlike that time, he wasn’t planning to unbandage his face completely.

The Courier didn’t tie a simple knot but some type of a bow with many loops, and Joshua spends several minutes trying to untie it without tearing. Under his fingers he feels cloth that is different from his bandages, thicker and softer, and when he finishes, a wide red ribbon falls into his hands. He looks at it for a while, gently stroking it with his fingers, and then hems and puts it in the pocket of his vest, folding it neatly.

***

“So you have noticed,” says the Courier, putting her book aside. Follows-Chalk is nowhere to be seen, and the Sorrows who chuckled at them ten minutes ago now have gone about their business.

“As you can see.” Joshua folds his arms. “Care to explain what happened?”

“Follows-Chalk and I had an argument about how long it would take you to realize that you have something on your head.” She pauses. “Since I lost three games of cards in a row, I had to be the one to do this...”

Because of the unseriousness of the situation a smile creeps across Joshua’s face.

“So who won?”

“You missed the opportunity to dramatically say “and you, Brutus”,” the Courier says, a little disappointed. “Actually we both lost. Follows-Chalk thought that you will notice it before I even finish. I said that it will be on your head for five or ten minutes. You held on much longer.”

“Traitors.” Joshua sighs, not knowing what else to say.

“Are you angry at us?”

“Not at all.” After a moment’s thought he adds: “But I will have my revenge.”

Courier laughs.

“I will be waiting!”

Joshua leans against the canyon wall next to the sitting Courier, looking around the camp. Since White Legs had left Zion and Caesar had left the Legion, things have been going well... suspiciously well, he would say, but he didn’t want to poison the already rare and long-awaited moments of peace with anxiety. The lack of sleep finally gets him, and Joshua closes his eyes, trying to remember if he brought coffee to the Sorrows’ camp.

“By the way, where’s the ribbon? Did you throw it out?” the Courier breaks the silence.

“I would like to keep it.” Joshua notices that the Courier averts her gaze. “If you don’t mind, of course.”

“Sure...”

“Can you show me how exactly did you tie it?” Joshua adds, smiling at the sight of the Courier turning red.

**Author's Note:**

> I think it may be time for me to learn how to write something more serious haha  
> But if this made you smile then I guess I did a good job anyway  
> I added some headcanons in there, some lines about Joshua's pain kind of contradict each other but that was the intention ;)
> 
> As usual, critique is welcome, especially about grammar :3
> 
> Also this Courier is the same Courier that was in "Between "today" and "tomorrow"" (https://archiveofourown.org/works/26179279) and "15:25" (https://archiveofourown.org/works/26756857)!


End file.
